Similar styles, 90+ years apart.
Visiting the excellent Magnum web site I could not help but be struck by the stylistic similarities of Paolo Pellegrin’s 2008 pictures of Wall Street compared with the 1915 snap taken by Paul Strand.
You can see more of Pellegrin’s work here.
Google is doing what LIFE could not.
Google recently announced that it is digitizing some 10 million images from LIFE’s files. High time and well done, Google. Beats me why Time-Life couldn’t do this. These precious images will only last so long before the next bankruptcy/fire/reorg results in their loss for ever.
Here are some links:
Here are examples of the quality of the work heretofore hidden from view:
By the way, you can see his daughter Sarah in the great Fred Astaire musical Royal Wedding. It’s the one with the amazing scene where Astaire dances on the ceiling. She was a half decent dancer and actress – career choices which made WSC none too happy.
To search Google Images just click here. To limit your search to LIFE pictures, enter your query thus – in this case you would be looking for WSC:
Winston Churchill source:life
Working around the problem.
Sometimes when life confronts you with obstacles, you just have to negotiate around them. Or, as Churchill put it, “Difficulties mastered are opportunities won”.
The 24-105mm Canon ‘L’ is the ideal walking about lens for this sort of thing. If it weighed half as much it would be perfect. Snapped in downtown Paso Robles, California this past Tuesday.
Almost done for the year.
The row of cottonwoods on the old estate, thoughtfully planted by the original owner, is about finished for the year. These lovely trees need little maintenance, grow fast and have leaves which flutter beautifully when in full bloom. I give each a massive fertilizer spike in the spring and lots of water in the summer and that’s about it.
At sunset, they are glorious to behold.
A great portraitist.
I have decided to apply a limited set of criteria in making this award.
The work has to say something new.
It has to be fresh.
It has to regularly surprise you.
You must learn from it.
And it constantly comes to mind.
But, above all, it must stir the emotions.
Now, 2008 has blessed me with many additions to my extensive library of books about photographers (click in the right hand column), yet, looking at those requirements, the choice was simple.
Horst P. Horst is the Photographer of the Year.
You do not need to have a fascination with great fashion or famous people or exceptional portraiture to enjoy Horst’s work. Yes, most of the people photographed by him were famous but they were also beautiful and a beautiful subject rarely hurts a photograph, though it takes a great photographer to do it justice. And you will not find any politicians in Horst’s work, reminding us that politics is Hollywood for Ugly People. Just glance at the front page of any newspaper for confirmation.
What so distinguishes Horst’s work then, is not just the beauty of his subjects. It’s the aesthetic sense he brings to his photography, so much so that you leave his pictures remembering the interpretation and the insights and not especially cognizant that the technical side has been despatched with the greatest aplomb. In the world of painting Raphael and Degas come to mind. Everything is just right.
Horst’s powerful skills and self effacing nature are best illustrated with one of his portraits.
Yes, the subject is a knockout. Yes, the composition is startling in its originality. And yes, the gown is sublime. But Horst puts it all together, lights it beautifully – none of this is less than carefully planned – and the result is perfection.
Horst P. Horst is this photographer’s Photographer of the Year.